POINTERS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING 1

PERFORM COMPUTER OPERATIONS (PCO)

LESSON 1:
Practicing Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (OHS)

- is defined as the:
(a) Promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all
occupations;
(b) Prevention among its workers of any departures from health caused by their working conditions; h
(c) Protection among workers in their employment from risks usually from factors adverse to health; and
(d) Placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his/her physiological ability.

3 Common Causes Contributing to Hazard

TRIPPING
• These are wires running down near or through the walkways or aisle
• Drawers that are not kept completely closed or simply left open without regard
SLIPPING
• Spills on the floor leaving it wet
• Presence of small objects like pen caps or paper clips that are left scattered
FALLING
• Improper use of office furnishing or equipment being used as a stepladder when reaching objects at height
• Improper stacking of storage boxes making it heavy
The key to controlling or avoiding this kind of hazard is by doing the practice of good. HOUSEKEEPING

4 Kinds of Hazard
FIRE
- is most dreaded because of its potential to cause heavy to catastrophic damage, or even total loss of properties
and lives.
Common Cause of Fire
• Electrical faults
• Equipment failure
• Overloading of convenience outlets and extension cords, frayed cable or exposed wiring
• Highly combustible materials
• Human error
Every workplace is require to have a full fire safety inspection and to ensure required fire safety equipment is in good
working condition. FIRE EXTINGUISHERS

ERGONOMIC INJURIES
- is often ignored but perhaps the one that causes long-term injuries if not addressed.
For instance…
While you are conveniently seated inside the office the whole day doing your work, it can cause ergonomic injuries
to your hips and back due to poor posture. The risks involved in this kind of hazard develops over time.
On the other hand, if your job requires you to do repetitive manners to specific region of your body like wrists, back
or hips, this causes repeated trauma.
Injuries related to this kind of hazard are general called Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs).
This is also called by many names such as:
• Repetitive motion injuries
• Repetitive strain injuries
• Cumulative trauma disorders
• Occupational cervicobrachial disorders
• Overuse syndrome
• Regional musculoskeletal disorders
• Soft tissue disorders

EYESTRAIN
- this is one of the most common risks that one may acquire not only in the workplace but also at home. No matter
what industry you work in, you use your eyes to look at what you are doing. Most, if not all, office workers stare at
computer screens for long periods of time doing their daily tasks.
Eyestrain causes your eyes to get dry and irritated and worse, you might have trouble focusing at work. There are
still some things or practices that you can do to minimize it.
The following are some practices to avoid eyestrain:
• Reduce glare on monitor
 Lower light levels
 Use and close blinds on windows
• Adjust monitor position slightly below eye level at appropriate angle
• Take 5-10 minutes breaks for every hour spent staring at the monitor, focusing your eyes at varying distances
• Increase the computer’s font size

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

Not because you work in an air-conditioned room means that your workplace is safe and free from risks.
Common Risks Involved
• Allergies
• Chemical sensitivity to occupational asthma
• Any respiratory disorder
Common Cause of Poor IAQ
• Over-crowding
• Poor housekeeping and maintenance
• Heat released from computers
• Ozone gas released from copiers and laser printers

SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING HAZARDS

Since there are different kinds of hazards, controlling them requires different systems. These include the following:
• Engineering Controls. It involves controlling the hazard right at its source.
• Safe Work Practices. This perhaps is the most cost effective and practical system that can be implemented in an
office environment.
• Administrative Controls. This type of control goes hand in hand with safe work practices.
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). While use of PPE may not be a necessity when working in an office
environment, it might be noteworthy to know what PPE is and what kind of PPE applies to specific tasks in the
office.
• Safe Work Practices. This perhaps is the most cost effective and practical system that can be implemented in an
office environment.
• Administrative Controls. This type of control goes hand in hand with safe work practices.
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). While use of PPE may not be a necessity when working in an office
environment, it might be noteworthy to know what PPE is and
what kind of PPE applies to specific tasks in the office. Most
common PPE that could be found in the workplace, whether in an
office environment or heavy industry like construction site, are
safety glass, helmets, gloves and safety shoes or rubber boots.
• Systems to Track Hazard Correction. This refers to a well-defined
system of identifying, tracking and documenting hazards and the
corrections made to reduce, if not to completely eliminate it.
• Preventive Maintenance Systems. A good and reliable preventive
maintenance program should be in a place to ensure that hazard
controls currently implemented are always functioning well.
• Emergency Preparation. An emergency is a situation where a threat to life or property is present.
• Medical Programs. This is an important part of health and safety system. Such as program can either be in-
house, like in large organizations, or through certain arrangements with local medical facility.

MAIN PARTS OF A COMPUTER

 A computer fan is any fan inside, or attached to, a computer case used for active cooling, and may refer to fans
that draw cooler air into the case from the outside, expel warm air from inside, or move air across a heat sink to
cool a particular component.
 A power supply unit (or PSU) converts mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal components
of a computer.
 A motherboard (alternatively known as the mainboard or colloquially, a mobo) is the main printed circuit
board (PCB) found in general purpose microcomputers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows
communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing
unit (CPU) and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals.
 A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within a computer that carries out the instructions of
a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations
specified by the instructions.
 Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage that stores data and machine code currently
being used. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the same amount
of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside the memory.
 In computing, an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or
near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs.
 A hard disk drive (HDD) is a data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital
information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material.
 A computer monitor is an output device which displays information in pictorial form. A monitor usually
comprises the display device, circuitry, casing, and power supply.
 A video card (also called a display card, graphics card, display adapter or graphics adapter) is an expansion
card which generates a feed of output images to a display (such as a computer monitor).
 A computer mouse is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface.
This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth control of
the graphical user interface.